I am new to the site and i've been having a small scope around the topic and seen some awesome cars and gave me some good ideas.

anyway I recently purchased a 2009 mk2.5 ford focus hatchback and I am mad to start customising and modifying it, however I am currently a student and the funds are a tad low at the minute it will be a month or two before I start looking at alloys bumpers etc etc...

what Im looking for now is cheap yet very affective ways of modifying my car and was hoping you guys could give me some ideas on what to do and were to start.

all i've managed to do to it so far is window tints and I have the proper hdi light kit ready just not installed yet

Welcome and best of luck with the modifying journey. Great to see another person from Ireland here

My first recommendation would be to get the car either remapped or get a tuning box. IMHO, best bang for the buck modification and everything else can be done gradually over time. Added benefit, your mpg will be slightly better which technically pays for itself over time

really ? I was considering remapping it but does that not increase the mpg fuel usage? my car is 115bhp standard what would you recommend putting it up to if I was to remap it ?

With my limited knowledge from my own research on the subject and personal experience, I think that your mpg will be better i.e you will be using less fuel. My car's mpg went from 46-48mpg to 50-52mpg. That is on doing the same roads over the week over a period of about 1 year. Granted it's a very small increase and it could be due to varying conditions but I drive fairly consistently and do the same roads 5 days per week. I drive mainly national roads(100km/h) and motorways(120km/h)

As for a remap, a couple of the companies that do it in Ireland would offer 3 options:

1. Power

2. Economy

3. A blend of power/economy

There are a few reputable companies out there and their prices vary from €200-€300 ish. I think the most expensive I found was a place in Dublin that was doing the Superchips/Bluefin product who at the time were charging €350 for it.

As for a tuning box, I have one myself for my 1.6 Tdci Zetec 2010 and it was very difficult to install it without a ramp. I am not sure if you have the same engine as it is apparently easier to install on the 1.8 Tdci. Other members might have more input on that. Also, with a tuning box, the recommended settings that it comes pre dialled in for you will have a minor change on performance. You will have to play with the dials to find something that suits your driving style and what amount of power you want from the engine. You can, with a lot of patience and trial runs, get settings that will suit you. What I am saying is, with the default settings on the tuning box don't expect amazing gains and be prepared to do lots of test runs on different settings until you find one you are happy with. Advantages are that you can remove it after or dial in settings for different conditions e.g economy or full power.

Both of the above have their merits and there is plenty of information about remaps vs tuning boxes on the forums so that you can make up your own opinion. Either way, I think you can't go wrong